Leaving Iraq- If not now, when?

The troops are out of Iraq and will be home for the holidays. And a man that I have respected and have met a few times, Senator McCain has stopped being the maverick, the smart, moderate person I knew and has turned into a NeoCon and Tea Party puppet. I spent 20 years in the military, Senator, and I know that when the objective is complete, you leave and come home. Are you saying our mission in going to Iraq was to set up an American satellite state to counter Iran? No, the mission was to defeat Hussein and bring democracy to the country. Well, the despot is dead and election have been held. What now do you want from Iraq? The country will continue to have problems, but they will be their problems, not ours. And would keeping 20,000 troops there prevent these problem? No, we'd just be sucked into them. Unfortunately, Senator, you think like too many military men I knew, and why I got out when I did. "No matter what happens, I will not allow this command to get smaller," is a statement I heard several times in briefings. This, I believe, is the mindset that keeps troops in Europe. History will be written many years from now, when both you and I are dead, Senator, but when it is written, if this is found to be a mistake, the problem won't be that we left too soon, but that we went there in the first place.